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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23417671">Just you and me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/salvatorestjohn/pseuds/salvatorestjohn'>salvatorestjohn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Vampire Diaries (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Episode: s05e22 Home, Friends to Lovers, Human Tyler Lockwood, Light Angst, M/M, Reunions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 09:03:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,358</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23417671</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/salvatorestjohn/pseuds/salvatorestjohn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The door clicks as he closes it behind him, just standing there, starting to smile. Matt startles at the noise and whips around, already pushing himself up halfway from the couch. Their eyes lock. He can see Matt go still, frozen like a statue. He can't hear his heartbeat or how fast it is. It makes his own jump for joy. No sharpened senses.</p><p>"Ty?" Matt chokes out, voice strained with disbelief, refusing to let himself even dream that it's real until he can be sure.</p><p>"It's me, Matt," Tyler says, and he can't do anything but laugh, because it feels so good. To be himself, no passengers in his head. "It worked, Bonnie brought me back. And—"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Matt Donovan/Tyler Lockwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Just you and me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>None of it really registers in Tyler's head straight away, or even once his feet are on solid ground. For a second, he thinks that maybe he's still dead, still stuck on the other side. But when he looks up, steadying himself from the lurch in his stomach of being pulled through a plane of existence, his eyes lock with Caroline's. They widen, staring right at him, and he knows by the soft gasp of his name that it's real. He's alive. </p><p>He folds her into a possibly bone-crushing hug of relief. Seeing her is just overwhelming. She hugs him back, arms winding tighter around him than he was expecting. To his surprise, it actually hurts, and he's quick to pull back.</p><p>The realization that he's no longer a hybrid, or even a werewolf, sinks in a lot quicker. It's a feeling beyond relief. Even Caroline's staring at him in amazement, trying to wrap her head around it. One thought immediately crosses his mind. Someone he needs to tell. To see. To touch.</p><p>His words are a rushed, jumbled mess as he explains to Caroline that he needs to go. She's thrown, but she doesn't try and stop him. He promises himself he'll come back later. Dying for a second time has only proven to him that he needs to stop being so afraid of what might happen. If Caroline can forgive him, he'll make things right with her.</p><p>He practically breaks the handle on his front door, pushing it open with a force that would have torn it from its hinges had he still been supernatural. But he's not, and it doesn't, and he loves that. He cranes his neck, looking around. Searching, his heart pounding. </p><p>There's a noise from his left and he quickly turns. For a split second, he feels nothing, like he's gone completely numb aside from the freezing cold sensation that washes through his veins. Then relief hits him, his eyes fixed on Matt. He's just sitting on the couch, watching something on the TV. Completely unaware of everything going on.</p><p>The door clicks as he closes it behind him, just standing there, starting to smile. Matt startles at the noise and whips around, already pushing himself up halfway from the couch. Their eyes lock. He can see Matt go still, frozen like a statue. He can't hear his heartbeat or how fast it is. It makes his own jump for joy. No sharpened senses.</p><p>"Ty?" Matt chokes out, voice strained with disbelief, refusing to let himself even dream that it's real until he can be sure.</p><p>"It's me, Matt," Tyler says, and he can't do anything but laugh, because it feels so good. To be himself, no passengers in his head. "It worked, Bonnie brought me back. And—"</p><p>The rest of what he was going to say gets knocked out of him by Matt's chest. His arms wrap tightly around him, hugging him like he's the only thing keeping him afloat at sea. Tyler doesn't think, just reacts, sinking into the comfort and safety. It feels as if it's been years since he's really been this close to him, despite knowing it hasn't. It's just suddenly as if everything from the last three years hasn't been real and he's finally waking up from this twisted nightmare. </p><p>Not wanting it to fade, he hugs him tighter, feeling Matt's shoulders heave with a shaking breath and his face buried Tyler's shoulder. Relief washes through him like a river. Because he's alive, because he's <em>him</em>, because his last real memory with Matt is no longer going to be in the basement of the Salvatore house with fear in both their eyes and making him agree to let him die if it comes down to it. </p><p>"I thought—" Matt says, but he doesn't finish either, voice breaking down before he can get any further. Still, he tries again, determined to speak, to let him know. "God, Ty. I thought you were gone. I thought... I was terrified."</p><p>"So was I," Tyler says, drawing in a deep breath as well. A smile accompanies it as Matt's arms tighten around him as if to comfort. "But I'm okay now, yeah? We're both okay. Although, my newfound status of alive might get revoked if you keep crushing me to death. Kinda into it, but also kinda into breathing more after recent events, to be honest."</p><p>Matt breathes out in a rush now, laughing, and immediately pulls back. His eyes are shining, Tyler realizes, a couple of escaped tears tracking down his cheeks. He keeps his hands planted on his shoulders, and Tyler's grateful, his grip just tight enough to be grounding. Without it, he worries that he might wake up after all. </p><p>"Sorry," Matt apologizes right away. He pauses. His eyes narrow, and that relief halts, shifting to confusion. "Wait, that... that hurt you?"</p><p>Tyler nods, his excitement bubbling back up inside of him now. "Yeah," he says. "I'm not a hybrid anymore. Or even a werewolf."</p><p>It takes a moment for the words to hit. Matt just stares at him with furrowed eyebrows, that same look of not letting himself believe in it so that he won't get his hopes up. Then it collapses as another wave of relief comes crashing through like a bulldozer.</p><p>"You're..." he starts, eyes scanning over him.</p><p>"I'm human again, yeah," Tyler confirms.</p><p>His own heart flips at saying it out loud for the second time. It's had a little longer to fully sink in now and he can't even believe it. He's human. Something he never thought he would get to say again after he killed Sarah. He has another chance. The same realization hits Matt all over again as well.</p><p>"Oh my god," he breathes out, and he's crying properly now, the three words breaking into a sob. </p><p>Tyler pulls him back in. His hand curls around the back of his neck and he holds him close, fingers gripping the base of his hair comfortingly. Matt just clings to him, his own hands holding tightly to the front of Tyler's jacket as if to stop him from going anywhere. He wouldn't dream of it. Not again. This time, he's going to do things right. </p><p>"It's okay," he says softly, and it resonates inside of him. It really is okay. Or at least it will be. "I'm here, Matty."</p><p>Matt's next sob turns into an ecstatic laugh. Hearing it, and feeling the rumble of it in his own chest, he has no idea why he dropped the nickname when they were twelve. Some dumb reason, he's sure, but he regrets it now and decides that if it makes Matt this happy, he's never dropping it again.</p><p>"Fuck, Ty," Matt says in a way that Tyler understands completely. He lifts his head, looking him in the eyes, and Tyler doesn't think they've ever looked brighter, a piercing crystal blue as he shakes his head. "You scared the hell out of me. You can't do that again."</p><p>"Get possessed by an evil traveler who hijacked my body against my will?" Tyler asks uncertainly, joking, cracking a grin to ignore the strain in his own voice and how his throat is so tight it almost hurts. "I didn't really have much of a choice in that if you didn't notice."</p><p>"Which is why we should leave."</p><p>Tyler stops in confusion. Matt says it so firmly, with such finality, as if he's been thinking this over for longer than just this last minute. He doesn't break his stare once, just presses his lips together in wait of his response. But Tyler can see the hope alight in his eyes, burning. Pleading.</p><p>Shaking his head slowly, Tyler starts, "Matt, I get it. But I'm not so sure it's that simple, I mean—"</p><p>"What's simple about anything in our lives anymore?" Matt cuts in, knowing him well enough to predict his argument. But he's determined, more so than Tyler thinks he's ever seen him. "You died, Tyler."</p><p>"Yeah," Tyler says slowly. "I know that. Twice, actually."</p><p>"People don't usually do that," Matt continues, shaking his head again, "and I don't feel like taking the risk of finding out what happens if you die again. There has to be a limit somewhere for us, we've both seen that. Doing this again... there wouldn't be a way to come back from that next time."</p><p>The thought hadn't really crossed Tyler's mind yet. He was too wrapped up in figuring out a way back from the other side, and now being alive again. His head's been spinning since the cemetery, but Matt's words hit like a blow to his chest now. The other side is gone. No more supernatural purgatory to even think about bringing someone back from. He really would be dead. All of them would. And who knows what that would mean for Matt, even with his ring. </p><p>Staring at him now, the thought of that makes his head spin harder and his stomach turns in dread for something that may never even happen. But knowing this world, how could it not? In Mystic Falls, there is no guaranteed safety. There never has been, he realizes. Every day is a threat to their lives. Trying to process it all at once isn't making his head hurt any less. </p><p>"You want to just..." he shakes his head again as if it'll help, "...run away? Matt." His voice softens now, understanding but trying to reason with him, even if part of him is agreeing with every word he says. "Have you really thought this through? I mean, do you really wanna just leave? You know we'd end up here again in a couple of weeks when someone calls for help. And would you really be able to say no to any of them if they—"</p><p>"I could and I would, especially for you," Matt cuts him off again, voice firm and sure. </p><p>Tyler just stares, lips still parted to speak, but nothing that he was going to say really seems all that important now. His chest feels like it's still wrapped in the strength of a vampire. His heart drops a beat as Matt just stays silent, letting the words sink in, hitting against his ribs like a hummingbird in a cage. </p><p>"What... what are you saying?" he asks, sensing there's more, buried beneath, but he just can't work this one out on his own, not with everything that's just happened. He can barely hold onto a single coherent thought as it is. </p><p>"I'm saying that I have thought this through." </p><p>Matt takes a step forward which seems almost impossible because there was hardly any space there to begin with. But he does, and suddenly Tyler realizes that his hands aren't on his shoulders, but settled carefully on either side of his neck, light enough to be barely there at all as if ready to pull away at a moment's notice. </p><p>Something hits inside of Tyler. He doesn't have the ability to identify it right now, but there's some sense of knowing there at the back of his mind and in the pit of his stomach. Anticipating, waiting, thinking<em> finally, please</em>. </p><p>He barely blinks, staring up into Matt's gaze, practically holding his breath in confusion and a whole other hurricane of things going on inside of him. Matt's smile tugs at his heart. A laugh bubbles up from his chest, faint and almost closer to a chuckle, but soft and holding a sense of saying <em>screw it</em>, w<em>hat is there to lose after everything that's already been taken? </em></p><p>"I've been thinking about it for months, Ty," he says, and sighs, so much wearier than he should be. "All I want is to be with you. Knowing that we're safe. Away from this place, from everyone, all of the drama and the danger that's gotten both of us killed already more than once. Just for a little while at least."</p><p>Tyler's first thought is almost a sigh as well from the voice in the back of his head, about how much he wants that. The whole idea sounds far too good to be true but he doesn't care. Anything has to be better than this. With his head instantly flooding with all of the possibilities for what leaving could mean and where they'd go, the realization almost doesn't register. </p><p>"You really want that?" he asks, just to be sure, because he can't take this risk. He'd never lose Matt, he knows that. If he was going to, it would have happened by now. But still, that piece of him he locked away when he was fourteen forces him to be sure of this one thing.</p><p>Something in Matt's eyes lights up like a sparkler and he knows. They both know, the silent message passing between them.</p><p>"Can never just take my word for anything, can you?" Matt jokes with a smile. </p><p>Then he leans in before Tyler can respond with more than a quick, drawn-in breath that burns his throat and lungs, heavy with what comes next. Of all the way that Tyler used to imagine kissing Matt, somehow he never counted for the softness of it. But here Matt is, lips pressing so carefully and gently against his, but with such certainty. Matt might just be the only thing that Tyler has ever been completely sure of, without a doubt. </p><p>That's why it's so easy for him. He's never kissed Matt before in his life and yet everything about it feels so familiar. Because he knows him and Matt knows Tyler. And even when they break apart and neither of them speaks, just holding each other without even opening their eyes, it feels as right as it always has with him. </p><p>Which is why Tyler swallows, then quietly says, "Okay. Let's leave. Right now."</p><p>"Yeah?" Matt breathes out, and lifts his head away from where it had been pressed to Tyler's, both opening their eyes to look at each other. </p><p>Tyler is able to nod without a sliver of hesitation or doubt inside of him. "Yeah. Just you and me."</p>
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